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AI prompts for competitor analysis: profiles, comparison tables and positioning

How to use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity for competitor analysis without invented facts: what sources to give the model, how to keep every claim traceable, how to build a fair comparison table, and how to turn findings into positioning. Copy-paste templates included.

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Where AI helps and where it doesn't

  • Helps: reading a lot of public material quickly (pricing pages, docs, release notes, reviews you collected) and organizing it into the same structure for every competitor.
  • Helps: spotting patterns across sources, such as repeated complaints in reviews or features every competitor now offers.
  • Doesn't replace sources: without web access or pasted material, a model answers from training data that may be outdated or wrong, and it can invent prices, features or customer names.
  • Doesn't decide strategy: it can list options and trade-offs, but which market to fight for is a business decision you make with the evidence.

Make every claim traceable

  • Paste the source material inside delimiters, one block per source, with the URL and the date you collected it.
  • Ask for a source next to every fact ('[source 3]'), and a separate list of anything the model could not find in the material.
  • If you use a tool with web search, ask it to link the page it read and check those links yourself; search results can be stale or mismatched.
  • Date the analysis. Prices and features change, so a table without a date becomes misleading quickly.
  • Keep it to public information. Don't paste material obtained under NDA or from a competitor's private systems.

Build a comparison that is actually fair

  • Choose the comparison criteria before you look at the results, based on what your customers weigh when they decide.
  • Use the same criteria and the same type of source for every competitor, including your own product.
  • Separate facts (has SSO: yes/no, according to the docs) from judgments (onboarding feels easier); label judgments as such.
  • Mark 'not found' instead of 'no' when the material doesn't mention a feature; absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

Templates

Competitor profile from pasted sources

Build a profile of [competitor] using only the sources below. Collected on [date].

<source id="1" url="[url]">
[paste pricing page, docs, release notes or reviews]
</source>
<source id="2" url="[url]">
[paste]
</source>

Sections:
1. What they sell and to whom (2–3 sentences).
2. Pricing and plans as stated.
3. Key features relevant to [our category].
4. Recent changes (with dates, if the sources give them).
5. Strengths and complaints that appear in reviews, with how often each appears.

Rules:
- Put the source id after every fact, like [1].
- If a section has no information in the sources, write "Not in sources". Don't fill gaps from memory.
- End with a list of questions the sources leave open.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

Feature comparison table (JSON)

Compare the products below on the criteria I give you, using only the profiles provided.

<criteria>
[list 6–10 criteria your customers care about, e.g. SSO, API access, price of the entry plan]
</criteria>

<profiles>
[paste one profile per product, including ours, each with its sources]
</profiles>

Return JSON only:
{"as_of": "[date]", "rows": [{"criterion": "...", "values": [{"product": "...", "value": "yes | no | not found | <short text>", "source": "...", "type": "fact | judgment"}]}]}

Rules:
- Use "not found" when a profile doesn't mention the criterion; never assume "no".
- Mark anything that is an opinion or impression as "judgment".
- Same criteria for every product, in the same order.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

Positioning options from the comparison

Using the comparison below, suggest positioning options for [our product] aimed at [target customer].

<comparison>
[paste the comparison table or summary]
</comparison>

Give me 3 options. For each:
- The one-sentence positioning statement.
- Which rows of the comparison support it (quote them).
- The main risk: what a competitor could say back, or what we would have to prove.

Rules:
- Base every option on differences that appear in the comparison; don't invent advantages.
- No superlatives ("best", "only") unless the comparison shows it and you can name the evidence.
- Don't pick a winner; I'll decide.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

FAQ

Can ChatGPT or Claude research competitors on their own?
Only when web search or browsing is enabled in the tool you use, and even then you should open the cited pages yourself. Without it, the model answers from training data with a cutoff date, which can miss recent pricing or product changes. For decisions, collect the sources first and ask the model to work only from them.
How often should I update a competitor analysis?
It depends on how fast your market moves. A practical approach is to keep the profiles and table as a living document with an 'as of' date, and refresh a competitor whenever they publish pricing changes or major release notes. Re-running the same saved prompts on the new sources keeps the format comparable.
Is it OK to paste competitor content into an AI tool?
Public pages such as pricing, documentation and published reviews are generally what competitor analysis is built on. Avoid confidential material, and check your organization's policy on which AI tools may process company work. This is not legal advice; ask your legal team if you're unsure.